Starting in compliance year 2007, under the new standard, Rhode Island load serving entities must obtain at least 3% of electricity from eligible renewable energy resources. In each subsequent compliance year through 2019, the target percentage increases to a maximum of 16% in 2019, the commission says. Eligible renewable energy resources include solar radiation, wind, geothermal, small hydro facilities and biomass facilities using eligible fuels.

The RES requires that such generation be monitored and verified by a party independent of the generation unit or any other party that might create a conflict of interest. The state commenced RES operations within the New England Power Pool Generation Information System (NEPOOL GIS), a Web-based system that manages renewable energy certificates.

"We were quite pleased with how easy it was for APX to integrate our new RES program into the GIS," says Elia Germani, chairman of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission. "Best of all, our requirements were met as a noncardinal change, meaning that APX implemented our additional requirements at no cost to the NEPOOL GIS participants."